Mar. 31, 2005 – The percentage of Iraqi children under age five who suffered acute malnutrition nearly doubled from early 2003 to the end of 2004, according to the UN’s expert on malnutrition. Jean Ziegler says 7.7 percent of Iraqis under five went hungry in 2004, compared with 4 percent in the months immediately after the April 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein by US-led forces.
In a summary of previous studies on health conditions in Iraq, Ziegler also told the UN’s Human Rights Commission that, overall, more than a quarter of Iraqi children do not get enough food to eat. He said rising malnutrition among children is "a result of the war led by coalition forces."
The US delegation in Iraq did not respond to Ziegler’s report.
